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Battery Keeps Losing Charge

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Old Jan 4, 2009 | 07:08 PM
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Default Battery Keeps Losing Charge

Hey guys,

Recently my battery has been giving me some trouble.. I could let the car sit for two days, come out to start it, and it'll JUST crank over. It's been doing this a lot recently. During the summer I had the battery checked and it passed all the tests no problem, and they recharged it for free. Someone had suggested to check the terminals.. () He also told me that one of the bolts of the terminal was different? I don't think that would cause anything though.
Any ideas?
Thanks in advance
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Old Jan 4, 2009 | 07:16 PM
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just sounds like a bad battery. the cold weather is usually harder on batteries so it might have killed it.
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Old Jan 4, 2009 | 07:28 PM
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Your alternator could be failing. They don't just fail, they can fail over time and just not charge it that well sometimes. Mine did just this for a couple week period last month.

Start the engine, then disconnect the battery completely. Go for a drive up the street and see if everything is fine. If the electrical items are acting all funny, the alternator is dying.
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Old Jan 4, 2009 | 07:33 PM
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And of course, make sure there's no corrosion anywhere, that will stop the battery from charging. You can also check to make sure the excitor wire hasen't broken. If it did, as soon as you disconnect the battery with the engine running, it will immediately stall. Its the wire thats plugged into the top, backside of the alternator. You can see it by just looking down at it.

If your battery was checked and it excepted a charge, its good.
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Old Jan 5, 2009 | 12:39 AM
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Thank you guys. I was told to clean the terminals of the battery. how would I go about doing this?
Edit: This problem has caused my electronics to either not work, run slowly and at one point my car was completely dead. This was all with the car off and just the ignition turned to ON. So it isn't just a starting problem. Almost forgot to mention that
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Old Jan 5, 2009 | 12:43 AM
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they sell spray that you can use on the terminals that gets the corrosion off and they also sell a little tool that has wires inside it that you put on the terminal and spin around that will scrape off corrosion. both should be around the batteries at an auto parts store.
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Old Jan 5, 2009 | 01:49 AM
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Thanks dude
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Old Jan 5, 2009 | 10:12 AM
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Originally Posted by 98 WS6
Thanks dude
Get the spray that nuetralizes the acids and corrosion, you'll never get it all off and it will come back with just wire brushes. You should spray that stuff all over every batt wire, batt terminals and let them soak, then scrob them all.

Then put battery anti-corrosion gel all over the connectors and terminals when you put everything back together.
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Old Jan 5, 2009 | 10:24 AM
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If you are on a budget, baking soda (I use a water/soda solution) will also neutralize all the acid. But you must scrub it after application, just like with the spray. And grease, such as axle or general purpose grease, will prevent any from coming back.
However you go about it, you must remove all traces of existing corrosion or it will simply come back.
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